stevens



@ni-tch taten atrntffirr.

W. X.- STEVENS, oF WAT'ERFORD, NewA YORK.

l LattersPatent No. 73,405, dated January 14,1868. l

f I IMPROVBD SKATE.

dige Stigehule metta tu in tige'se tettets irteutmi mating gmt at thesmite.

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, W. XSTEVENS, of Waterford, in the 'countylofSaratoga, and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Skates; and I hereby declare the following to be afull,clear, and exact description of the same,refereuce being had vto theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a longitudinal verticalsection of the forward clutch of the skate.

`Figure 2 is a side elevation of therskate.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the same.

Figure 4 is aside elevation of the heel-catch detached from the ska-tc;and

Figure 5 is a section on the line iig. 3. I

The object of myinveution is to produce a light, strong, andinexpensivoskate, and one iu which the parts by which .the skate is'held to thefoot are so constructedl and combined as to b e of great simplicity anddurability, atthe sume time that they operate effectively to hold` theskate securely and tightly in position. To this end my inventionconsists of a skate in which the blade and sole are formed of onecontinuous piece of sheet metal, or its equivalent, bent or shaped, ashereinafter described, to the form desired; and it further consists inthe combination, either with a skate thus made, or with one ofanyordinaryor suitable construction, of clutches' pivoted to the skate,and arranged for operation as hereinafter described, so" as tohold theskate securely both to the heel and sole of theishoe or boot to whichthe same is applied. I

I construct the skate either of, sheet metnl, with a thicker strip, orstrips of metal S, fig. 5, fastened alongthe loweredge of the same, soas to form a suitable runner, or of metal thick enough at its lower edgefor a runner, and worked by rolling, or other suitable process, so thatthe upper portion shall be thin and like sheet metal.' Supposing themetalto be standing upon the edge intended for the runner,I cut from theupper edge two vertical slits, which extend downward to a line where itis intended the solev and blade of the skate should meet. One of theslits is cut near the end of the plate of sheet metal, which 4isintended to constitute the rear part of the skate, and in such iuauneras to divide about in half the metal 'upon which the heel of the boot isto rest. The other slit is made in the forward part of the plate,dividing the metal 'intendedfor the support of the ball of the foot. Theupper portion ofthe metal sheet is thus divided into three partsl byslits extending down to a line, which should be in the'plane in which itis intended that the sole of the skate should lie. lThe rearmost ofthese'parts', v, hg. 3, is then 'bent down, so as to be at about rightangles'to the blade of the skate; the middle part, a, is bent down tothe same angle with respect tothe blade, but in'a contrary direction, sothat while in the sametplane with the hecl-piece '0, it will lie on theopposite side of4 the blade; and the remaining or front piece, x, isbent at a similar angle tothe blade, and in the same direction 'as theheel 1 1. l

When the foot is placed upon the sole thus formed, it will be seen thatthe heel will rest 'upon thepiece u and partly upon the middlesection'a, and the ball of the foot will be supported not only by thelatter, but will also partially rest upon the front piece 2;. By thismeans the pressure of those parts of the foot which are principally incontact with the skate will be equally divided upon both sides of theblade. It will of course be understood that the required'outline for the-bade and sole may be obtained by cutting the edges of the metal to theproper shape, either before or after the sole-pieces v a a: are bentdown. I am by'this means Ienabled to form the blade and sole of theskate of one continuous sheet of metal, thus combininggr-eat strengthwith simplicityil of construction and cheapuess.

The number of sections' of which the sole is formed may be increased bycutting a greater number of slits, the sections, or, as they may betermed, leaves, thus formed, being turned down alternately in the oneand the other direction, as above described. I prefer, however, theconstruction shown in;the drawings, as the foot is therebysecurely-supported.

The middle section alserves as a stiffeuer or angle-ironto prevent thebending ofthe blade; but in order to eifectually stiien both the bladeand sole, I form in such parts, and alongtheir line of juncture,corrugations or V-shaped indentations, so as to form ribs or bracesa,which extend across the angle formed by the blade with the section ofthe sole. Y i

To fasten the skate to ther-foot, I employ devices or clutches, whichwill now be described, and I may here say that the clutchesmay be usedwith any sknteof ordinary or suitable construction, and therefore whiledescribing their application to the form of skate above described, I donot limit myself to such particular application. I p

I The clutchfor gripiug or holding the forward part of the foot is showndetached from the skate in fig.v Ilr This clutch is of such length, thatwhen placed diagonally, say at about an angle of forty-five degrees,across that portion of the sole where thevball of the foot comes, itsends will project on each sidev beyond the edges of `the sole. The endsd of the clutch are bent soi-as to extend'up above the top of the skateabout the' thickness of the boot-sole, and the inner surface of theseends is corrugated or roughened, so that they may the better hold theboot-sole. This clutch may be applied t'o the skate s o as to be eitherabove or below the sole. I 'pre-I fer, however, to place it under thesole, as shown in the drawings.- Itis pvoted at e' to the sole upon oneside ofthe blade, soA as to be capable of'oscillating in a horizontalplane, the pivotal point upon the clutch being rlemovedvfrom one of theends d, about one-third the length of the clutch. The clutch extendsdiagonally across the sole, as seen in iigr 3, and near the end, d, onthe opposite side of the blade, it carries a stud or pin, o, whichprojects froml the face of the clutch next to the skate-sole, and may beset in any one of theA holes z', which are formed upon the arc of acircle having the point e` for its centre. As the clutch is capable ofmoving upon its pivotal point, it may-be set at a. greater or less angleto the bladeand sole, and securely held in such position' by the stud o,which is placed in the proper hole z. The clutch is formed of metal, andhas a certain springiness which admits of its being forced down', so asto draw out or diseng'age the stud o from any one of the holes. Ofcdurse, when the pressure is removed, the clutch will spring back andforce the stud again into position. l The manner of applying the 4skateto the foot .is shown in fig. 3. '.Ifhe-fskate is turned sideways untilthe boot-sole will tit between the clutch-jaws d, and the skate is thenturned by its heel, which serves as a handle or lever, until the wholeof the skate is brought under the foot. The clutch by this time willextend diagonally underneath the foot, and the boot-sole will be jammedbetween and tightly griped by the jaws d.

To adjust the elutc-h to boots of different width,'the stud o may be setin any ofthe holes z'. The narrower the boot the nearer mustthe ends dbe brought to the blade. o The heel of the boot is fastened inthefollowing manner: 0nejawfof the heel-clutch is formed upon th rear ofthe heel-plate v and is made fast thereto, and the face of the jaw whichis in contact-with the heel, is like' the jaws d, corrugated orindented'. The other jaw of the clutch consists of an adjustable plateor catch, shown detached in g. 4, pivoted at g to the blade of theskate, so aste be capable of vibrating in a vertical plane. The highestpoint t of this catchstands above the skate-sole, and forms a bearing.for a sharp gimlet-pointed set screw, Z, thepoint of which projectsthrough the bearing li, and extends toward the stationary jaw f.

Upon the end of the catch, furthest removed fromthc pivotafpoint g, is astud or pin, n, which, when the catch is in position, springs into aholed', in the skate-blade., The operation of the stud, and thespringing of the catch-plate, are the same as above described inthc'case of the fsole-clutch. i

When the skate has been fastenedVa-s hereinbefore explained, to the soleof the boot, the boot-heel is pressed down firmly on the skatesole; thelower end of the catch or arm n, which has been previously dropped,

so as to tilt the screw Z away from thejawf, is raised until 4the stud nsprings into the hole j, at which point v the point of the screwlsho'uld be pressed rmly into the forward face of the boot-heel, whichivill be held tightly between the screw and the corrugated'jawf. Thescrew can be turned so as to increase or lessen its .distance from thejaw, according to the size of the boot-heel to be held.

Having now described my invention, and .the manner in which the same isor may bc carried linto ed'eet, what I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is- I 1. Forming the sole and blade of a skate from ,onecontinuous piece or sheet of metal by first slitting or cutting, andthen bending the said metal sheet., substantially in the manner and forthe purposes herein -shown and described. v

2. A combined skate-sole and blade, formed from a continuous sheet ofmetal, as described, and corrugated or indented at the angle formed bythe sole with the blade, so as to form braces for stillening the saidparts, substantially as shown and set forth.

3. The combination, with a skate of ordinary or sultabld construction,of the herein-described spring-dutch for grasping the boot-sole, thesame being pivoted to the forward part of the skate, so as toextend'diagonally across the sole of the same, under the arrangement andfor operation as shown and s'ct forth.

' 4. The combination, with a skate of ordinary or suitable construction,having a stationaryjaw or equivalent 1 bearing for the rear'of theboot-heel of the pivoted catch and adjustable set-.screw for holding thesaid bootheel to theskate under thearrangement and for `operation asherein'shown andset forth.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification beforetwo subscribing witnesses.

W. Xt STEVENS. Witnesses: L. BUTTON,

THEO. E. BUTTON.

